City to Seek $233,000 From Mobil in 1988 Spill
Mobil Oil will be asked to pay at least $233,000 more to cover costs that public agencies incurred to mop up oil spilled in Encino and Sherman Oaks after breaks in a Mobil pipeline in September, 1988, a Los Angeles deputy city attorney said Monday.
News of the bill surprised a Mobil attorney, prompting him to seek a hearing to review and possibly challenge the clean-up costs. The cost-review hearing, set March 6, was granted Monday by Los Angeles Municipal Court Judge Owen Kwong as the judge sentenced Mobil to pay fines and penalty assessments of $4,500 to settle the oil company’s no contest plea to two misdemeanor counts of unlawfully allowing oil to be dumped into the Los Angeles River.
In addition to the fines, Kwong also ordered Mobil to pay the “emergency response costs” of public agencies that dealt with the company’s oil spills of Sept. 10 and Sept. 27, 1988.
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